Audiobook Review: Star Wars: Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Star Wars: Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Media Tie-In
Series: Star Wars Canon
Publisher: Random House Audio (April 30, 2019)
Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Full Cast
Star Wars audiobooks are always a treat to listen to, but audio dramas are on a whole other level. Performed by a full cast and available only as an audiobook, Star Wars: Dooku: Jedi Lost is an immersive experience that puts your right in the middle of the action and makes you feel like you are in a Star Wars movie, watching all the events and action play out around you.
Since the release of the prequels and the character’s first appearance in Attack of the Clones, the origins of Count Dooku AKA Darth Tyranus has been shrouded in mystery and plagued with questions. We know that he was a former Jedi and a Padawan of Yoda’s before he became the Count of Serenno and the Leader of the Separatists. But what happened in between? What was his childhood like, and how did he fall out with the Jedi leading him down the path to the dark side?
Dooku: Jedi Lost seeks to address all of that, by taking listeners all the way to the beginning when our main character was just a boy at the Jedi Temple, where he is just one of many younglings brought to Coruscant by seekers scouring the galaxy for force-sensitives. He hasn’t even been chosen as an apprentice by Yoda this point, but while on an excursion with his fellow students to the planet of Serenno as part of a cultural exchange presentation, Dooku discovers something about his personal history that will forever change the way he views the Jedi and himself.
I should also mention that all of these past events are told in flashback because Dooku: Jedi Lost is a frame story which places us some time during the Clone Wars when Dathomir Nightsister and dark Jedi Asajj Ventress was still an acolyte to Count Dooku, working as his assassin. Chafing under the Sith lord and tortured with visions and voices in her head, Ventress is given a new assignment to track down a new target—someone close to the Count’s own heart. As she makes her way to Serenno to fulfill her task, Ventress learns more about Dooku and catches glimpses of the most defining moments of his life with the Jedi.
Along with the recently released Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray, new canon offerings like this one are proving to be a blessing for fans who want to know more about prequel era. Clocking in at a mere six hours and twenty-one minutes, this audio drama is nowhere near as long as the series’ typical novels, but it still packs a lot of content. Besides the emotional decisions and the political ramifications that led Dooku to turn his back on the Jedi and take up the mantle of his forebears, this audio drama also delves deeper into his personal relationships including that of his close friendship with Sifo-Dyas as well as his apprenticeship with the famed Yoda. Eventually, of course, Dooku also reaches the rank of Master Jedi and becomes master himself to a hot-headed young Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn.
Written by Cavan Scott, the story is well-plotted and developed. However, as entertaining was it was, I can’t really see the history of Count Dooku being all that exciting to anyone but the most hardcore of fans. Luckily though, the story isn’t the only reason why people pick up audio dramas. After all, the best and most notable aspects of this format are the audiobook production values and technical qualities, as well as the incredible performances. And I’m pleased to say that in this area, the creators of Dooku: Jedi Lost went all out. Sounds are used to great effect, and musical snippets from John Williams’ brilliant score inject another emotional layer to the experience. Then there’s the incredible talent of all the voice actors and actresses. Compared to regular audiobooks, audio dramas typically demand a lot more acting from their narrators because there is less descriptive text, and so every spoken line has to contain a lot more information in the way it is delivered. For the most part, I feel the cast gave a spectacular performance.
All I can say is, yes please to more Star Wars audio dramas! I can see so much potential for future tales that will work great for this format. Dooku: Jedi Lost is worth checking out for the exquisite audio experience alone, and fans also get a surprisingly in-depth study into one of more enigmatic characters of the Star Wars universe.
Audiobook Comments: If you’re not familiar with audio dramas, some time may be needed to ease into the format. Narrated by a cast of twelve, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but each voice is distinct enough thanks to the talented readers. Although everyone gave a strong performance, some were better than others. Ironically, Euan Morton’s performance as Dooku was pretty average, though to be fair, he’s portraying a younger version of the character in addition to trying to fill the shoes of some very big names including Christopher Lee and Corey Burton who voiced the character in The Clone Wars and various other Star Wars projects. But standouts in this audio drama include Orlagh Cassidy as Asajj Ventress, Sean Kenin as Sifo-Dyas, Carol Monda as Lene Kostana, Saskia Maarleveld as Jenza, Jonathan Davis as Qui-Gon Jinn, and Marc Thompson as Yoda.
The BiblioSanctum 
I can almost hear the audio in my head while I’m reading your review, lol😁
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I’m glad! That was exactly what listening to this was like!
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This review makes me very happy! I’ve got it next up on my TBR. Excited to get started.
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Hooray, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
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It’s great to see you had another good one there!
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Yup, lots of good Star Wars releases lately!
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I am so behind, is this my 4th post here today? 😉
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Haha, thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂
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Glad you had such a great time with this – that audio cast is pretty impressive – no wonder it was such a good listen.
Lynn 😀
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It’s awesome when they get different narrators for all the characters – so immersive!
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I don’t listen to a lot of audio but if I did a Star Wars book would be at the top of my list, especially with the sound and production values- it sounds like a blast. Ew, I just realized that’s a very bad pun lol. But anyway… I like it when we get to see WHY someone turned from the Jedi, it makes the character so much more interesting and adds that element of “grey” to the Jedi ways. 🙂
Glad this was great!
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Absolutely, I would recommend Star Wars audiobooks for anyone wanting to give audio a try – as long as you won’t get too distracted by those sound effects and music 🙂 But yes, they’re really fun!
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Glad to see you enjoyed this! The short length of these is somewhat appealing, but I know I would never get to it 🙂
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Yeah, I like that they are quick listens, though you can’t really speed up playback because it’s an audio drama…otherwise it’d sound weird 😛
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That sounds very interesting! I’m very tempted to try this.
I’ve only tried two full-cast books before. One was a Christie mystery which worked OK and the other was X-Files (Cold Cases) which was done from a comic book and really didn’t work for me.
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I did the X-Files one too, and enjoyed it well enough – the story was okay, but I did love that they got Duchovny and Anderson and cast members to narrate!
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I agree that the actors narrating was great!
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